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The Ghosts (good ones) of Christmas

Friday - 12/24/2010, 4:00am EST

When I was a starving (and hence, much skinnier) reporter working horrible night shifts at the Washington Post I don't ever remember being forced to work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Eve. I often did, because I needed the holiday pay, but I rarely if ever had to. Even if I was on the schedule.

That's because one of my Jewish colleagues would invariably ask me if I wanted to trade shifts. Even if he, or she, had a nice 10 to 7 p.m. gig and I had the 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift. Some of them weren't particularly religious. But they were are all nice. And considerate.

I think of that every Christmas, and it gives me extra appreciation for folks who are required to work today, either because of their jobs/dedication, or because they are covering a gap for somebody for whatever reason.

So if you are on duty today, for whatever reason. Thanks. Many of us do understand and appreciate it. And if you are off like (finally) me. Enjoy yourself.

Library of Congress to track edits, updates of websitesThere's really no easy way to track down earlier versions of information on websites. Until now. The Library of Congress has come up with a project called "Memento," which allow you to see what used to be on any particular website, before it was changed.